Recently we got the below issue raised by the user on form load of one of the entities.
Most of the times this issue will arise because of the control / attribute being referenced in the JavaScript, being not available on the form.
And same was the case here, one of the JavaScript’s associated with the ribbon button, was referring to business process field (header_process_xxxxx) which was not available on the form.
Hope it helps..
The scan business card feature added as part of release wave 2, allows salespeople to quickly scan business cards using the Quick Create Form. The scanner reads the information from the card and populates the corresponding mapped fields in the record.
Out of the box, it is available in quick create form of lead and contact entity.
To specify the mapping for the business card control fields, navigate to Settings – Customizations and open the Quick Create form and select the Business Card Control and go to the Controls tab for its properties.
Click on the edit icon for the field and specify the mapping.
To enable for entities other than lead and contact, open the quick create form of that entity for customization and select either single or multiple lines of text field as a placeholder and add the business card control to it.
Followed by appropriate mapping of properties to the fields of that entity.
To see it in action let us create a new lead record using it’s quick create form. On click on the Scan Business Card button and selecting an image we get the values populated on the form.
Make sure to enable the free trial of AI Builder.
We can see the business card attached/saved with the record.
This behaviour can be configured.
Navigate to Sales Tab of System Settings
Few points to consider here
Hope it helps..
Continuing our previous post where we used the replication package
here we will see how we can use the synchronization service for bi-directional sync.
Below of the prerequisites of synchronization package to perform bi-directional sync –
So here we need to alter the SQL Azure’s Contact table that was auto-created earlier by the Replication package to have the auto-generated primary key.
Connect to the SQL Azure database using Skyvia’s Query service and perform the alter operation
Or use the Query Editor (preview) of Azure
With necessary changes made, let us create a new Synchronization package
Specify the connection and click on Add Task to create the synchronization task.
We have specified contact entity from Dynamics CRM Source and contact table in SQL Azure which was earlier created for us by the replication package.
It automatically maps all the columns here based on the column name.
We can also manually specify mapping here for both Source To Target and Target to Source fields to be used for sync.
Click on Finish once done with the mapping.
Similarly to replication packages, the synchronization packages can be scheduled.
Click on Save to create the Task.
Click on Run
The run history shows the 220 records synced from Dynamics CRM to SQL Azure.
We can see the 220 records created in our SQL Azure DB
Now let us update a record in SQL Azure and run the package again.
We can see the record updated in Dynamics CRM
Now let us delete a few records from Azure SQL and run the package
We can see the records delete from Dynamics CRM
Similarly, let us delete a couple of records from Dynamics CRM and run the package
We can see the 8 records deleted in the destination SQL Azure
Thus, we saw how easy it is to do bi-directional sync using Skyvia’s Synchronization package.
Hope it helps..
In the earlier post, we saw how we can use Skyvia’s query feature to execute SQL command against our Dynamics 365 CE
In this post, we will cover how we can use Skyvia’s replication feature to create a copy of our cloud data i.e. Dynamics 365 Online data in a relational database like SQL Server and most interestingly keep it up to date automatically with basic configuration steps.
Creating replication of cloud data can be useful in different data integration scenarios and most importantly for reporting and data analysis need as with online we are limited with the use of Fetch XML.
The Skyvia’s replication service takes care of syncing Create, Update and Delete operation performed on Dynamics 365 Entity records with the destination SQL Database.
For this we need to Skyvia expects an object’s key as well as modifiedon, createdon fields to be included for replication.
For delete to work it expects, audit history to be enabled on that Entity.
In this post, we will take a simple example of replicating Contact entity records from Dynamics 365 Online to SQL Azure.
Login to Skyvia
https://app.skyvia.com/#/packages
Create the connections
Source Dynamics CRM Connection:
Destination SQL Azure Connection:
We have a database named SampleDB already created in SQL Azure.
With connections created, now let us create a new package of type replication
For the replication, we have specified source connection as the CRM connection and destination as the SQL Azure.
We have selected the option of Incremental Updates along with Create Tables and Drop Tables option which will delete if there is an existing table of the same name as the entity and will create a new one.
In the Select Objects section, we have a specified Contact entity. We can also select multiple entities for replication.
Edit task option in the selected entity let us specify the fields and filter criteria on the source.
We also have the option of scheduling that we will look at in the end of the post.
Save the package and click on Run to see it in action.
While it is running, the Run History section shows the details
It auto refreshes with all the details.
We can see the 228 records of contact records replicated in SQL Azure.
Now let us create a new contact and run the package again.
Here we have created a contact record as shown below in CRM.
On running the package, we can see that it has added a new record in the Run History
Back in SQL Azure also our count has increased to 229.
Now let us update one of the records in the source and run the package. The run history shows one of the records being updated.
Finally, let us delete a couple of records (9) from the source and run the package. (We need to make sure we have enabled Audit on Contact entity for delete to work)
Back in SQL Azure, we can see total record count decreased
Here we were running the package manually, however, in real-world scenarios we would be scheduling it.
For this, we can edit our package and navigate to the Schedule section and click on Set Schedule.
For e.g. we have scheduled here it to run every hour starting from 6 p.m. till 10 a.m.
On save, we can check the run history
Thus, we saw how easy it is to replicate the data from Dynamics 365 CE to our SQL Database using Skyvia’s Integration service.
To achieve the same using Scribe Online Replication Service
and KingswaySoft
Hope it helps..
Let us start from the scenario that the enterprise has decided to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM /365 CE as a preferred customer relationship solution for their organization.
For a large enterprise and/or having multiple different departments, the first question that comes up is, do they need to have a single instance or organization or multiple instance or organization. Well, that decision is not that easy but one thing is for sure the decision should be made as early as possible in the project.
Well you could refer to these posts that could help us to make the decision
Now suppose we have made the decision to go with the single instance \ organization, so what are some of the key points we need to consider.
There could be multiple ways of implementing and defining the segregation layer as well as what needs to be shared from data and customization perspective among the different business units, the most important being the security model and the business unit structure being one of the key components of it.
Check out the below Webinar –
http://www.xrmcoaches.com/2017/07/free-webinar-friday-creating-your-dynamics-365-security-model/
also listen to the below podcast to get some guidance around the setting up the security model
http://crmmvppodcast.com/episode-19-setting-up-your-security-architecture-like-a-crm-mvp
In one of our projects, the way we segregated different departments, after defining the appropriate business unit structure, was by having the Business Unit lookup (custom field) in all the common entities that were being shared by the departments and populating that field accordingly, every time record is created either through User Interface or through code and to refer the same field in the customizations (plugin, workflow etc.) as and when applicable.
In the other project, we were referring to the Business Unit lookup field in the System User / Team Entity.
Well there could be multiple ways of doing the same with its own pros and cons.
But what if you have already implemented for one of the units and didn’t consider that the same instance would need to be extended to accommodate the different business unit(s).
Well, then it is time to modify a couple of things to make the Business Unit structure scalable (if it is not).
Let us go through the each of the main components one by one and how they can be segregated among different business units.
Wrong root business unit name?
Set Parent Business Unit lookup field as optional, open the Business Unit record and rename it.
Need to rename the organization?
For Online à
Navigate to Admin Portal, select the instance and click on edit and update the organization name and if required the URL as well as shown below.
For On-Premise à
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/darrenliu/2013/09/21/change-crm-organization-display-name/
Forms
Create separate new Main forms for different business units.
Enable appropriate security roles for the Form.
Views
Fields
Reuse the fields that are common instead of ending up creating a large number of fields.
Field security profiles can also be used if required when certain entity’s records are shared across the business unit and we want to hide the sensitive information.
Business Rules
Business rule can be configured to run on the scope of Form instead of the Entity.
Dashboards
For Dashboards, we can enable the security roles.
Workflows
Plugins
Have a field in the records to identify to which Business Unit it belongs to and check for this field as the first thing in the plugin or check for the Business Unit of the user under whose context the plugin is getting fired or use the secure \ unsecure configuration etc. it purely depends upon the way the segregation logic has been implemented.
SLAs
Use SLA lookup field to apply the SLA dynamically through plugin or workflow.
Business Process Flow
If there are multiple business process flow, make sure appropriate one is applied
Apply business process flow while creating an entity record.
There would be multiple other key points to be considered apart from the one listed above specific to each implementation; the above points are some of the things that can be taken as guidelines.
Lastly we must consider creating different apps for different department \ teams\ users and add required solution components to it.
Please feel free to add comments and share your thoughts.
Hope it helps..
Recently after upgrade of our Dynamics 365 CE from 8.2 to 9.1, when the System Administrator tried importing the solution (managed), he got the below error
The workflow cannot be published or unpublished by someone who is not its owner.
Error while importing workflow {ec05f40d-fd14-46ab-96b3-be1f5b108ef3} type Workflow name Marketing List – Update CT Relationship: The workflow cannot be published or unpublished by someone who is not its owner.
What the error says is that the user who is importing the solution needs to be the owner of the workflow that is there in that solution.
http://gonzaloruizcrm.blogspot.com/2011/05/processesworkflow-ownership-faqs.html
The thing was that we have never got this issue earlier for that System Admin user and we would have imported the solution at least 10 times earlier as well. This time the only thing different was that it was in the newer version 9.1
Changing the owner of the workflow and assigning it to the one who is importing will fix this issue. However interestingly and as expected when we tried importing the same solution using a different system administrator (again not the owner of the workflow in the target system), the import was successful with warning.
“The original workflow definition has been deactivated and replaced”
Read the below post to understand how workflows are managed internally
https://www.inogic.com/blog/2010/11/workflows-behind-the-scene/
Please share your thoughts, if someone has faced this issue recently and how they managed to fix this?
And what caused the issue to the first system admin and worked for the other.
In theory, requesting the backup of the online database seems very easy and straightforward. We basically need to raise a support ticket with Microsoft and provide the following details.
We had requested the same, some 3 weeks back. In our case, the Database size of our production was around 600 GB out of which 200 GB were occupied by Audit Data. For some business-specific reason, we wanted to have the backup of Audit Data with us before we delete it. Now, this Audit has a separate story with it, when we tried deleting it from UI we got the SQL Time Out issue and on raising the support ticket when Support Team tried the same through back end it, resulted in our Production Server being down briefly for few minutes. We also tried to take the back up through 3rd party tools using SSIS, however again we ran into some issue where the tool was not able to pull the Audit Data for few of the entities.
Well to cut the story short, it is around 21 days after we raised the request, and we are yet to receive the backup of our production database, we have been told that support team is actively working on it and it is because of the large size of the organization.
Will keep posting the update on the backup and the Audit deletion.
The purpose of this blog post was to share that certain things might seem straightforward and would have taken maximum few hours, could still run into issues and challenges causing delays. So, when we plan for it we need to aware of these factors as well.
Hope it helps..
The day has come when we had scheduled the upgrade of our Dynamics 365 instance Test Instance(from 8.2 to 9.0).
We can see the below message during the scheduled time à “The update will being within 24 hours. No rescheduling is available”.
The following Reschedule Update option will go missing during the scheduled time.
After waiting for few minutes, we see the Update Status as Queue (Not Started)
Followed by the status as “Database Upgrade”
In between the Status message will be Backup and Restore.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/dynamics365/customer-engagement/admin/manage-updates#update-status
Then it kept interchanging the status from Updating Instance (with no status) to Updating Instance – Database Upgrade for close to 2.5 hours.
Then although the status was Updating Instance the Open link got enabled after 2.5 hours.
Which opened the following notification
And finally, after 10 minutes or so à
We were all set with version 9.1
In total it took around 3 hours approximately.
Time to enjoy the successful upgrade and explore the new features ..
Make sure the Solution is compatible to Dynamics 365 (8.2), for this check the Version Compatibility
Upgrade the existing CRM 2016 On-Premise Server to CRM 2016 (8.1) for its solution to be compatible with Dynamics 365 Online using cumulative updates.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/3142345/microsoft-dynamics-365-onpremise-cumulative-updates
If upgrading from previous version i.e. prior to CRM 2016, use “Migrate by using a new instance of Microsoft SQL Server” approach
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699669.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699747.aspx
Once updated to compatible CRM 2016 On Premise (8.1), go to settings à customizations and export the existing solutions or create a new solution, add all the required solution components to it as unmanaged which will be imported to the new Dynamics 365 online environment.
Create a new Dynamics 365 Online Environment and synchronize it with your existing Active Directory
With solution ready and imported to new Dynamics 365 Online, next step is migration of data.
Consider using a data migration tool like KingswaySoft.
Check out their Migration Starter Pack.
or Scribe
https://www.scribesoft.com/solutions/dynamics-365/
Use following tools to update the JavaScript to Version 9.0 of XrmToolBox.
https://www.xrmtoolbox.com/plugins/XrmToolBox.Dynamics365V9JavascriptValidator/
https://www.xrmtoolbox.com/plugins/MsCrmTools.ScriptsFinder/
https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/develop1/archive/2017/11/11/executioncontext-hits-the-big-time
Update JavaScript to use Web API.
https://github.com/jlattimer/CRMRESTBuilder
SQL Based report, if possible, needs to be converted to use Fetch XML. Use the following tool to speed up the process.
If the reports are too complex, plan to use Power BI reports.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn708055.aspx
Plugin and Custom workflow needs to be updated to run in an isolated environment i.e. sandbox along with references to the latest SDK assemblies.
https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CrmSdk.CoreAssemblies/
If the existing On-Premise is integrated to other applications, make sure they can still talk with new Dynamics 365 Online.
Recurring jobs if needed, can be deployed to Azure as Azure WebJobs.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/websites-dotnet-deploy-webjobs
Use Hybrid Connection to talk with On-Prem resources.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-hybrid-connections
These were some of the points I could quickly think of. Please share your thoughts and experiences in comments. I’d update this list.
Do check out :
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (on-premises) to Microsoft Dynamics
Online Migration Guide
Hope it helps..
While configuring the Data Export Service we got the below error while validating the profile
It mostly occurs if there is some issue with the connection string specified in the PowerShell Script used for generating the key vault.
Always copy the connection string from the Azure SQL Connection Strings property and double check the username and password provided there. And make sure the user specified has all the required rights.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt744592.aspx#Anchor_1
Correcting the connection string resulted in successful validation of the export profile.
Hope it helps..
